Check out the video of the Saints' first playoff game at the bottom of this column

I still believe

Keith MagillExecutive Editor

Published: Sunday, January 24, 2010 at 6:01 a.m.

Last Modified: Saturday, January 23, 2010 at 9:53 p.m.

One reason I'm rooting for the Saints to beat the Vikings today is this: revenge.

I was one of the fans who packed the Superdome on Jan. 3, 1988, to watch New Orleans play Minnesota in the Saints' first-ever trip to the NFL playoffs. My friends and I entered the Superdome ebullient and optimistic but left dejected and crying in our beer after the underdog Vikings trounced the home team 41-10.

Sure, it's a different Saints and a different Vikings that will hit the field today. But a Saints win sure would help erase some of the bad memories that linger from that ill-fated day in the dome.

When the Saints play a game this big — a win will thrust them into the Super Bowl — they take the team's entire history with them. And for those of us who have stuck with them through the highs and lows — old-timers have experienced a lot of the latter — a trip to the Super Bowl, regardless of whether the Saints win it, is a dream come true.

I don't consider myself old, but I guess I am one of those Saints old-timers. So for me, this game is the latest in a long string of milestones the team has reached since hitting the field in 1967. My dad, Maury Magill, was a radio announcer for WWL in New Orleans for the team's first 25 or 30 years, and after that, in semi-retirement, he announced the games for the media inside the Superdome press box.

Dad didn't miss a Saints game, home or away, for all of those years he was on the air except for two: the day my brother was born and the day my mom had some serious surgery.

Any Saints fan who remembers those abysmal early days understands what a torturous endurance test it was. Sometimes, my mom would warn me not to mention the Saints around the dinner table after Dad got home from the game. Always listen to your mother.

In those first few seasons, my dad gave one season ticket to a friend and neighbor if he would take me to the games. Dad says I started going to home games during the 1968 season, which would make me 6 or 7, but the only memories I have from that far back are fuzzy and incoherent.

My first memories of Tulane Stadium have little to do with the Saints; I just remember how big and open it looked. From our seats near the top of the stadium, around the 10-yard line on the Saints' side of the field, I could see the city skyline and the Mississippi River Bridge in the distance. The buildings were smaller back then, but the city looked like Oz to me.

My earliest memories of the play on the field include Danny Abramowicz catching passes from Billy Kilmer, who like most Saints quarterbacks, spent most of his time running for his life. Archie Manning, one of my boyhood heroes, knows that well.

Unlike the million or so New Orleanians who say they were there, I really was at Tulane Stadium on Nov. 8, 1970, when Tom Dempsey kicked the NFL record 63-yard field goal in the final seconds to beat the Detroit Lions. It's the first clear memory I have of a Saints game; I remember it because we had already left our seats and started down the tunnel, hanging our heads as usual, when we heard the stands erupt in applause and screams of joy. I had missed the kick, but I was there for the celebration. It was one of two games the Saints won that season. About a month later, I turned 9.

That glorious kick, diminished by a horrible season, might serve as a metaphor for virtually the entire Saints experience.

Yes, I remember the 62-7 loss to Atlanta in the 1973 regular-season opener, the true start of a rivalry that continues today. I remember the 1-15 season in 1980, now known as the year of the Aints and the bagheads, shamed fans who wore brown paper bags over their heads.

I remember coach Jim Mora dismissing as ridiculous a reporter's question about the chances his struggling team might make it to the post-season, an episode since immortalized in a beer commercial. “Playoffs? ... Playoffs?”

And I remember the Saints' first playoff game against the Minnesota Vikings, the year Mora's “coulda, woulda, shoulda” mantra and a scrappy team that wouldn't give up inspired faith among fans who had never before had a reason to believe. The Saints won their last nine games, ending with their first winning record: 12-3.

And there I was, watching the Saints, who CBS-TV's Pat Summerall, in the pre-game broadcast, called “football's hottest team,” face the Vikings in New Orleans' first-ever playoff game. We were supposed to win.

Sound familiar? Yes. But I still believe.

Courier Executive Editor Keith Magill can be reached at 857-2201 or keith.magill@houmatoday.com.

<p>One reason I'm rooting for the Saints to beat the Vikings today is this: revenge.</p><p>I was one of the fans who packed the Superdome on Jan. 3, 1988, to watch New Orleans play Minnesota in the Saints' first-ever trip to the NFL playoffs. My friends and I entered the Superdome ebullient and optimistic but left dejected and crying in our beer after the underdog Vikings trounced the home team 41-10.</p><p>Sure, it's a different Saints and a different Vikings that will hit the field today. But a Saints win sure would help erase some of the bad memories that linger from that ill-fated day in the dome.</p><p>When the Saints play a game this big — a win will thrust them into the Super Bowl — they take the team's entire history with them. And for those of us who have stuck with them through the highs and lows — old-timers have experienced a lot of the latter — a trip to the Super Bowl, regardless of whether the Saints win it, is a dream come true.</p><p>I don't consider myself old, but I guess I am one of those Saints old-timers. So for me, this game is the latest in a long string of milestones the team has reached since hitting the field in 1967. My dad, Maury Magill, was a radio announcer for WWL in New Orleans for the team's first 25 or 30 years, and after that, in semi-retirement, he announced the games for the media inside the Superdome press box.</p><p>Dad didn't miss a Saints game, home or away, for all of those years he was on the air except for two: the day my brother was born and the day my mom had some serious surgery.</p><p>Any Saints fan who remembers those abysmal early days understands what a torturous endurance test it was. Sometimes, my mom would warn me not to mention the Saints around the dinner table after Dad got home from the game. Always listen to your mother.</p><p>In those first few seasons, my dad gave one season ticket to a friend and neighbor if he would take me to the games. Dad says I started going to home games during the 1968 season, which would make me 6 or 7, but the only memories I have from that far back are fuzzy and incoherent.</p><p>My first memories of Tulane Stadium have little to do with the Saints; I just remember how big and open it looked. From our seats near the top of the stadium, around the 10-yard line on the Saints' side of the field, I could see the city skyline and the Mississippi River Bridge in the distance. The buildings were smaller back then, but the city looked like Oz to me.</p><p>My earliest memories of the play on the field include Danny Abramowicz catching passes from Billy Kilmer, who like most Saints quarterbacks, spent most of his time running for his life. Archie Manning, one of my boyhood heroes, knows that well. </p><p>Unlike the million or so New Orleanians who say they were there, I really was at Tulane Stadium on Nov. 8, 1970, when Tom Dempsey kicked the NFL record 63-yard field goal in the final seconds to beat the Detroit Lions. It's the first clear memory I have of a Saints game; I remember it because we had already left our seats and started down the tunnel, hanging our heads as usual, when we heard the stands erupt in applause and screams of joy. I had missed the kick, but I was there for the celebration. It was one of two games the Saints won that season. About a month later, I turned 9.</p><p>That glorious kick, diminished by a horrible season, might serve as a metaphor for virtually the entire Saints experience.</p><p>Yes, I remember the 62-7 loss to Atlanta in the 1973 regular-season opener, the true start of a rivalry that continues today. I remember the 1-15 season in 1980, now known as the year of the Aints and the bagheads, shamed fans who wore brown paper bags over their heads.</p><p>I remember coach Jim Mora dismissing as ridiculous a reporter's question about the chances his struggling team might make it to the post-season, an episode since immortalized in a beer commercial. “Playoffs? ... Playoffs?”</p><p>And I remember the Saints' first playoff game against the Minnesota Vikings, the year Mora's “coulda, woulda, shoulda” mantra and a scrappy team that wouldn't give up inspired faith among fans who had never before had a reason to believe. The Saints won their last nine games, ending with their first winning record: 12-3.</p><p>And there I was, watching the Saints, who CBS-TV's Pat Summerall, in the pre-game broadcast, called “football's hottest team,” face the Vikings in New Orleans' first-ever playoff game. We were supposed to win.</p><p>Sound familiar? Yes. But I still believe.</p><p>Courier Executive Editor Keith Magill can be reached at 857-2201 or keith.magill@houmatoday.com.</p><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/o60t89P7r2k&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/o60t89P7r2k&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>